take aback

Charlie was so taken aback, he called to ask them what it meant.

He kind looked a little taken aback and said “Oh, well, do you like it?”

I was taken aback, because I honestly wasn’t ready to have any kind of conversation about it.

The cathedral archivist admits to being taken aback by the package, but alongside the skull was a letter of explanation.

Colleagues, friends and family, they found, could be quite taken aback by their new passion.